A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INCD

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the elaboration
of an international convention to combat desertification in those
countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification,
particularly in Africa (INCD), is a product of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de
Janeiro in June 1992. While the idea of a convention to combat
desertification had been discussed throughout the UNCED
preparatory process it was only in Rio where language was
adopted, requesting the United Nations General Assembly to
establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee for the
purpose of negotiating the convention.

The General Assembly, during its 47th Session in 1992, adopted a
series of decisions that dealt with follow-up to the Rio Summit,
including resolution 47/188 calling for the establishment of the
INCD with a view to finalizing a convention by June 1994. This
resolution, among other things, decided that there would be one
organizational session and five substantive sessions of the INCD;
the UN Secretary-General would establish an expert group to
advise the ICPD Secretariat on technical matters related to
desertification; and the INCD would establish a special voluntary
fund to ensure developing country participation in the
negotiation process.

The organizational session of the INCD was held from 26 - 29
January 1993 at UN Headquarters in New York. The purpose of the
session was to adopt the rules of procedure and schedule of
meetings, elect the officers of the Committee, establish the two
working groups, agree on the agenda for the first substantive
session and discuss the financial aspects of the process. At this
meeting Ambassador Bo Kjelln of Sweden was elected Chair of the
Committee and Ambassadors Ren Valry Mongbe (Benin), T.P.
Sreenivasan (India) and Jos Urrutia (Peru) were elected to the
Bureau.
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